Students enrolling in UALR’s entrepreneurship class don’t have to be future start-up CEOs. Associate Professor Joe Bell just wants them to think like one.

Bell, a former business attorney who created entrepreneurship programs in two Colorado universities before he came to UALR seven years ago, is managing the College of Business entrepreneurship program, which includes a course specifically designed to introduce business and non-business majors to the world of entrepreneurship.

“Issues in Entrepreneurship” brings together business students, music and art majors, criminal justice majors, engineers, science and math majors, and people from the workplace searching for a change.

“There is a tremendous amount of creativity that happens across our campus, and when you introduce students from many different disciplines, all students in that classroom benefit from the opportunity to observe other people’s creative thought,” said Bell, who directed Colorado’s small business development center. “The rest of us benefits from a broad educational perspective that a diverse student body can bring.”

The junior-level class is structured around 10 guest speakers offering insights on how to get an idea off the ground.

One of the speakers this semester is Curtis Arnold, a former UALR student who created cardratings.com, an internet company that rated credit cards according to the customer’s interests – most points, most travel points, and lowest interest.

The DeValls Bluff native had an idea, created a business, and three years ago merged his company into a Silicon Valley operation. He now is employed by that company, and he also is an angel investor, finding promising start-up companies to support with seed money.

“Dr. Bell is creating a new paradigm,” Curtis said of UALR’s entrepreneur program. “With the economic lows we’re having, ‘I can’t find a job’ is an unfortunate mindset, if working for the man is all you know. But more and more students are being exposed to another way.”

What is entrepreneurial business? Bell defines it as a high growth, team-oriented ventures.  Though small businesses and sole proprietorships are the backbone of the U.S. economy, high-growth ventures create high-paying, knowledge-based jobs that can ultimately change the economic footprint of an entire region.

“We want to talk about ventures that have a significant growth potential,” Bell said. “That tends to be the focus of most of my teaching.”

That doesn’t mean a small idea can’t grow big.

“You want to start a coffee shop? That’s great. I have a great little example. It’s called Starbucks,” he said.

Arnold said UALR’s entrepreneurial program is part of a growing entrepreneurial climate in Arkansas that includes assistance being offered to support start-ups. The support includes UALR-based Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, Innovate Arkansas, and the recently approved creation of a research park in Little Rock.

“They say, ‘I can’t create and birth and grow a high-tech company,’ but I did it. If I can do it myself with no experience, no funding, no help, they can,” Curtis said. “I tell students they are so far ahead of where I started. With the edge Dr. Bell is giving them, we’re going to have great new businesses.”